13 Day Work Marathon - Day 3

(Author's Note: This is the 3rd in a 2-week long series of what I am doing during my 13 straight days of work)

For the first time in my two weeks here in Augusta, I woke up before 10am and stayed awake. The reason: I had to work. Yea, I didn't get to work out again but that's for another day. Today was a big day because I got to do my first package. So instead of working the normal 2:30-11:30 shift, I worked the 9-6 day shift. Not gonna lie, I like the later shift better. Waking up that early brought back memories of bad things like OUIM morning meetings, Tour Guide big visit morning meetings and the even more dreadful WOUB morning radio casts. But I woke up unwillingly and made it to work on time (somewhat...I didn't really have a set time)

My story today is about a rowing camp for kids down by the Savannah River in Augusta. The story has some promise to it. The possible angles range from the amount of girls interested in rowing to the growth of the sport in general. I go for the second angle since the girls here seem unwilling to acknowledge the fact that they are a rare breed in the sport. When it comes to video, I get the gift of riding in a motorboat with two of the camp directors. That means being able to follow the boats in the water instead of being stuck at the dock. Plus, it's more fun for me too.

The hour on the river ends up being a lot of fun. I get some great video and get to see the cool interactions between counselors and participants. I can see the fun the kids are having and it even makes me jealous, wishing I had the opportunity to do this when I was a kid. The interviewing goes well, including finding a kid who talks a ton even asking one question. In case you don't know, that's a reporter's dream. I leave the scene around noon and head to the station for editing.

Editing the package isn't tough at all. Neither is the writing part surprisingly. I finish the whole thing around 2:30pm, giving me around 3 hours to do other things. So to pass the time, I put my story on the web, print-style, and stop doing more high school football schedules. 5:30pm rolls around and I am free to go and that means one thing for me: FRIDAY NIGHT FUN!

Now, I e-mailed a few co-workers earlier the night before telling them I needed ideas of what to do. Thankfully, they came through and we met up at a wings place for food and drinks. The company and food hit the spot and the night goes later than I anticipated, all the way to about 12:30am. Yea, seems early but I had planned on only being out till 11pm. I mean, I did wake up rather early. All in all, good night with the co-workers, giving me more hope that I can have fun in this city.

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY: As stated earlier, the first thing I learned today is waking up early stinks now. I'd rather just head out around midnight and mingle with people then. I also learned that packages here in Augusta are going to be fun. I think that's because unlike when I was in Athens and got into a rut, I am new to this place and just as much I want to share the story with the viewers and have them learn something, I want to learn as well. It kind of brings a new dynamic to my writing and my way of thinking. Instead of asking the predictable questions just to fill a package, I now want to ask more insightful questions that may give me a new angle or an idea for a future story. Above all though, I want people to be excited about the story. This was my package debut and if it stinks, well you know, you only get one chance to make a first impression. The final things I learned all had to do with people from the South. One coworker and her guy friend tried to lecture me and a few "Northerners" or "Yankees" about how weird we are. First off, we talked about which area had more fat people. Then it turned to which one had sluttier girls. A large chunk was spent on University of Georgia football games, in which female fans dress in their Saturday night best for football games. Yea, that means dresses, skirts, red and black blouses and high heels. WTF?!?! It's football! She said I would have to see it to believe it. Thankfully, I'll get that chance but as of now, I have learned that people in Athens, GA are idiots. I understand football games being a great time to be drunk and merry with friends...but at UGA, you have a good football team. At OU, we do not. We have an excuse to be so drunk to not know what's going on. At UGA, no excuses. Dress like a football fan and act like one too. (That was a rant)

3 down, 10 to go. Hakuna Matata